Updated on: March 29, 2026 / 8:55 PM EDT / CBS/AP
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, warned the United States on Sunday against a ground invasion, saying Iranian forces are “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever,” according to Iranian state media. He added, “Our firing continues. Our missiles are in place. Our determination and faith have increased.”
Ghalibaf also criticized a U.S. 15-point plan that Pakistan passed to Iran last week, calling it “their wishes” and saying the Trump administration is trying through the plan to achieve what it failed to achieve by force. “As long as the Americans seek Iran’s surrender, our response is clear: Far be it from us to accept humiliation,” he said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) separately threatened to target branches of Israeli and American educational institutions in the region, declaring them “legitimate targets” unless the U.S. condemned recent bombings of Iranian universities. The Guard said the U.S. must issue an official condemnation of the bombardment of Iranian universities by 12:00 p.m. Monday, March 30, or its regional American and Israeli campuses would be at risk. It urged the evacuation of American and Israeli educational facilities and told students and staff to stay at least one kilometer away.
The IRGC demanded that the U.S. stop Israel from striking Iranian universities and research centers, which have been attacked in recent days. Israel’s military has acknowledged strikes on Iranian universities it says are linked to weapons development.
Many American universities have a presence in the Gulf region; campuses in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates include Georgetown, New York University and Northwestern. The American University of Beirut announced it would operate remotely for two days beginning Sunday. AUB President Fadlo Khouri said there was no evidence of a direct threat to the university but that the move was “out of an abundance of caution,” stressing the institution’s commitment to safety and its mission.
This is the first time Iran has explicitly threatened to strike Israeli and American universities. Numerous universities across the region have shifted to online instruction since U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran helped escalate the wider conflict in the Middle East.
In a post on X, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad warned that Iran and allied militias “may intend to target the American Universities in Baghdad, Sulaymaniyah, and Dohuk, along with other universities perceived to be associated with the United States.” The embassy statement added that Iran and affiliated militias have carried out “widespread attacks on U.S. citizens [and] targets associated with the United States throughout Iraq” and accused the Iraqi government of failing to prevent terrorist attacks against the U.S. and regional countries from Iraqi territory.